The present invention relates generally to communication networks, and more specifically, to satellite switch communication with a network device, such as a virtual switch, over a network.
Redundant switches and links are often provided in a network to provide improved network reliability. If a switch or link fails, a redundant switch or link, already in place within the network is quickly enabled to replace the failed switch or link. For example, a core layer in a network may include two switches, each of which is connected with network devices in a distribution layer for redundancy purposes. Similarly, access layer switches in wiring closets (referred to herein as satellite switches) are connected to the two devices in the distribution layer. Since the redundant switch is typically enabled as a replacement more quickly than the failed component can be replaced or repaired, having redundant devices provides a more reliable network. Although this network topology has proven to be quite robust and reliable, it has some disadvantages. For example, each pair of redundant switches represents two points of management. If multiple redundant devices are used in a network, management of the network may become more complicated due to the need to have a different point of management for each network device.
To overcome this management complexity, a virtual switch including different network devices, which collectively operate as a single logical network device, may be treated as a single point of management. The satellite switch may then be controlled by the directly connected virtual switch or through chaining multiple satellites in series. A possible deployment scenario is one where the satellite switches are connected via an optical ring and the ring equipment is not satellite-aware. An option for transporting traffic in this scenario is to provide a pure Layer 1 (L1) transport such as an optical SONET/SDH ring that transports the entire Ethernet packet without examining its contents. However, this is limited to L1 connectivity and is inefficient since it cannot constrain traffic in a multipoint environment.
It would be desirable to deploy satellite switches which are not directly connected to a satellite-aware switch at the link layer, but connected through a traditional Layer 2 (L2) or Layer 3 (L3) network device. It is also desirable to allow multiple satellite switches within the L2 or L3 domain and to allow multiple virtual switches using the same L2 or L3 domain as a virtual backplane interconnect.